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Soil Forming Factors

The document discusses five key factors that influence soil characteristics: mineral matter, climate, topography, soil organisms, and time. It explains how the type of parent material, climate conditions like temperature and precipitation, landscape features such as slopes and lowlands, burrowing animals and microbes, and the length of time soils have developed all impact properties like texture, drainage, nutrient and mineral content, and formation of humus.

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DylanOSullivan
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191 views3 pages

Soil Forming Factors

The document discusses five key factors that influence soil characteristics: mineral matter, climate, topography, soil organisms, and time. It explains how the type of parent material, climate conditions like temperature and precipitation, landscape features such as slopes and lowlands, burrowing animals and microbes, and the length of time soils have developed all impact properties like texture, drainage, nutrient and mineral content, and formation of humus.

Uploaded by

DylanOSullivan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Option: Soil-Forming Factors

Mineral Matter:
1. The parent material of a soil influences its characteristics.
2. The mineral matter of the parent material, from which soils
develop, can either come from local rock that has been
physically or chemically weathered, or from rock transported
by fluvial, coastal, glacial or aeolian action.
3. As soils are made up of 45% mineral matter, they retain some
features of the parent material, creating differences in mineral
content and texture.
4. Soils that develop from the grainy and permeable sandstone
rock have large pore space and allow free-draining.
5. This sandstone influence affects the soils mineral content as
water can move rapidly through the soil, leaching the
nutrients and minerals as it passes.
6. Shale is fine-grained sedimentary rock and soils that develop
from it have very little pore space and tend to be badly
drained.
7. The dense nature of these shale-based soils affects their
fertility as they are prone to frequent waterlogging, affecting
the aeration of the soil.
8. The alkaline nature of limestone rock affects the pH levels of
limestone-based soils, while also making the soils calciumrich.

Climate:
1. Climate influences the characteristics of a soil.
2. A climates temperature and precipitation affect the type and
rate of weathering, the rate of growth and decay of organic
material as well as the rate of leaching.

3. Chemical weathering is rapid in hot climates, creating great


depths of soil, while in cold climates weathering is limited to
freeze-thaw.
4. Bacteria thrive in hot climates and vegetation is rapidly
decomposed into humus, adding to the fertility of a soil.
5. In regions that have a cold climate, there is much less
biological activity, so the formation of humus is very slow.
6. In regions with wet climates, heavy rainfall causes the
leaching and waterlogging of soils, preventing aeration and
reducing the nutrient-level of soils.
7. In regions with dry climates, the upward movement of
groundwater because of drought causes salinisation and
calcification, reducing the mineral content of soil.

Topography:
1. The topography of a region influences a soils characteristics.
2. Soils in flat or undulating upland areas are more likely to be
waterlogged and leached due to the wet conditions, creating a
lack of oxygen that means organic matter cannot be broken
down.
3. In the colder upland areas there is very little activity by
animals and micro-organisms, meaning dead vegetation is not
converted into humus but builds up as peat.
4. Soil erosion is common on steep slopes because of the high
velocity run-off that causes the thinning of soils, leaching
them of their nutrients.
5. However, this powerful run-off also means that the soils are
better drained, facilitating the aeration of the soils.
6. Soils tend to accumulate on low-lying areas and this enhances
their fertility as the weather is warmer and the activity of
animals and micro-organisms converts dead organic matter
into humus.

7. South-facing slopes in the Northern Hemisphere are warmer


and drier than north-facing slopes, resulting in the formation
of two soils with different moisture retention and humuslevels.

Soil Organisms:
1. Soil organisms influence the characteristics of a soil.
2. Plant roots help bind loose soil particles and prise open
compacted soil, improving the moisture retention of soils.
3. The plants themselves also provide a protective cover to the
soil from heavy rain, helping to reduce soil erosion.
4. Plants are also responsible for nutrient recycling as they
return all the nutrients to the soil after they die and
decompose, a major factor in the creation of humus.
5. The burrowing of insects such as worms and termites, along
with the burrowing of animals such as mice and rabbits,
aerates, mixes and drains the soil.
6. When these creatures die their decomposed bodies also add
nutrients to the soil.
7. Bacteria and fungi in the soil help to break down organic
matter by the process of humification.
8. Humification is the formation of humus a highly fertile
organic substance, from the decomposed remains of plants,
animals and insects.

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